Certain types of articles, such as food or beverage containers, are commonly sold either as individual units or in a multi-container carton. Each article is normally marked with a pricing code to enable it to be scanned and automatically totaled at a retail outlet when sold as an individual item. When packaged in conventional open-ended wrap-around carriers, pricing errors can occur if the scanner sees the pricing code on one of the articles instead of the code on the package itself. One way to prevent this from happening is to package the articles in a completely enclosed carton or carrier. An enclosed carrier is quite expensive, however, compared to a wrap-around carrier due to the greater amount of stock required.
Instead of utilizing fully enclosed carriers it has been suggested to employ modified wrap-around carriers having partial end panels of a size sufficient to cover the pricing code on the end articles in the package. Such a design, although requiring less stock than a fully enclosed carrier, still results in the use of a significant amount of additional stock over the amount required for an open-ended wrap-around carrier and is more expensive than a conventional wrap-around carrier. Another suggestion is to first cover the pricing code on the individual articles with paperboard before wrapping the articles. This too is unsatisfactory because it requires a greater amount of paperboard than an open-ended wrap-around carrier.
It would be highly desirable to be able to package articles in wrap-around carriers which utilize no more paperboard stock than conventional open-ended wrap-around carriers, yet are capable of covering the pricing code on the end articles.